


The House at Junari Point

by LitheofBuild (Orionseyes)



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: 70s mid-century Gothic, A bit of Apocalypse Now AU, Angst with a Happy Ending, Ben Solo is unhappy and vengeful, F/M, I promise, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Return of the Prodigal, Rey just wants a holiday, Women running from houses Gothic, later there will be smut, secluded house AU, some smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-24
Updated: 2018-07-23
Packaged: 2019-06-15 09:12:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15409710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Orionseyes/pseuds/LitheofBuild
Summary: Junari Point. The house beckons, empty for more than a decade.  A place of peace but that peace had been broken.A young woman, alone in the world arrives at the secluded cottage only to find an unwelcome intruder.An enigmatic and scarred young man, returns to the only place he felt at peace after escaping from cruel circumstances.A family torn apart by a great tragedy.  An uncle's guilt, a mother's sorrow, a father's courage, can peace be regained?





	The House at Junari Point

The large shadow moved along the border of the overgrown garden. The shadow resolved into an even larger man. As he slowly rounded the base of what had once been artfully rounded topiary, he remembered how different it had been in his faraway youth. The hedgerows had been much lower and the wild, sprawling, bramble non-existent. But now, it looked as if the erstwhile gardeners had grown weary of controlled maintenance and tender care and had finally put away their tools and let the majesty of nature fuel the untamed sylvan fierceness in this god forsaken edge of the world. It looked as if no one had been here in _years_.

He had traveled so many miles. Starting from the sunny, placid California coast where he had landed two months ago after almost half his lifetime away. Hitchhiking where he could. Most people were reluctant to pick up such a intimidating specimen. The rest of his solitary sojourn had been plodding on foot, and sleeping in abandoned buildings or out in fields, spending what little money he had on food. The final bit hastily stowing away on a merchant trawler from the western shore of Lake Michigan to this secluded landscape just north of the Sleeping Bear Dunes had been fraught with the threat of discovery but the trip had been mercifully brief. This was the only place he had ever been happy and somewhat at peace, back when the world was young and his only goal had been the days spent outside in the sun, laughing in the rolling, thunderous surf of the greatest of the lakes and the nights chasing after the intermittent glow of fireflies and lying in bed listening to soft electric hum of nocturnal life.

His bodily needs were now a pressing concern. His clothing had become ragged and his toes were poking through the holes in his socks. He hoped there was something in the big house that might fit him. And he desperately needed to bathe and eat. He was hesitant to go into the local town for fear of being recognized but he knew he would have to in order to freshen his meager supplies. It was possible he would not spark any curiosity although he knew if it was difficult in his current state. He was six inches taller and the lanky boy who had last come here had been replaced with a broad-shouldered, lumbering hulk with long, raven looks and a fierce, lightly-bearded countenance. Although, his face retained none of the softness that had been present in youth it still bore the multitude of beauty marks which were quite distinctive, along with a large Aquiline nose. Thankfully, his overlarge ears were hidden by the length of his hair. He hoped that the long scar, cresting down from his right eyebrow and slashing across his cheek and jaw, now thin and white with healed age rather than the red, fleshy slash of the whip bite it had been when fresh, would distract any keen-eyed observer who could remember the lonely, soft-eyed boy that used to come around to the old cottage every summer.

As he came closer to the entrance through the bushes to the main house, he realized with shock, just how dilapidated it had become. The red brick was still sound and solid but he could see the peeling paint around the windows and the porch in the bright glow of the silvery moonlight. There were no lights so no danger of encountering anyone to shock or more likely, _frighten out of their wits_. It had been a long time, and he thought suddenly of things that were now dead that should have remain buried.

 

*****

Rey Johnson was satisfied that her rented lodgings were in order. The summer had begun and after graduating from college, she looked forward to her first real vacation. In the fall, she would start her graduate studies in Cultural Anthropology with Professor Skywalker and had been surprised and cautiously excited at his generous invitation to stay at his family's cottage at Junari Point near the shores of Lake Michigan. He had even offered the loan of a beaten up jalopy for the drive there.

_"Rey," Luke had said as she sat in his office excitedly discussing the next semester. "You should try to take some time off. There's no reason someone as young as you shouldn't have some fun. I realize your personal situation means that you thought you would have to work this summer but I have a replacement job offer. You can edit some of my work for my next book and do it at the old cottage. It's near the lake and it's quiet and peaceful. I haven't been there in years but that house was the setting for some of my favorite memories."_

_"But, Professor, I have to work this summer. My scholarship doesn't start until the fall semester and I still have to pay rent and eat." Kindly, he reached over and clasped her hand and said, "I would pay you more than enough to cover your rent and any food and things you might need up at the cottage. I've already called the caretaker to turn on the power and water. You'll love it up there. There's wildness about the place and there's much to explore and experience and I wouldn't want you miss that. And you can ask any of your friends to accompany you there or visit. Please go, that house needs people. It's been far too long."_

He had refused to accept any concerns that she raised, waving her hesitation away, insistent that she go and enjoy the lakeside retreat.

She had thought to ask Finn, her closest friend to drive up with her but Finn was busy with his summer job and new girlfriend, Rose. She would just ask them to visit later in the summer. Solitude is what she really needed at this point.

Now, she paused and looked back at her small, tidy apartment. Her apartment that had been a comfort for the last four years. It would be another three months before she returned. Would she come back a changed person? Turning the lock on her door, she sighed as she leaned against the locked door and braced herself mentally for the drive ahead.

**Author's Note:**

> So, I finally wrote what I've been thinking about for ages.
> 
> First fanfic in this fandom, bear with me. I am a sporadic, amateur writer so hopefully, the spirit will keep moving me.
> 
> This is based on the countless mid-century Gothic novels I read as pre-teen and teen, easily identified by a cover featuring a young woman running away from a house and a story centered around long-held, dark family secrets.


End file.
